Childhood obesity is a very serious problem, more than we think, both for society and for the child who suffers it and his family. One of the consequences of obesity in girls is the early puberty, that is to say that they become women ahead of time, something that affects your personality and your self-esteem.
According to experts from CIBERobn (Network Biomedical Research Center - Pathophysiology of Obesity and Nutrition) excess body mass in the childhood period could be accelerating the biological process of puberty. Proof of this is that cases of precocious puberty among children are increasing.
A report from the University of Michigan on childhood obesity and puberty reveals that girls who are obese at 3 years and who gain weight over the next three years, they reach puberty at age 9. Being overweight can advance the onset of puberty more or less in three years.
To better understand why in obese children, and especially in obese girls, the metabolism is altered causing premature puberty, let's see what the experts explain:
From a physiological point of view, puberty begins with the increase in the secretion of the hypothalamic hormone GnRH, which causes a chain reaction of chemical messages that promote the development of the testicles and ovaries, increasing the production of sex hormones responsible for the physical and psychological changes of puberty in both sexes. However, excess body mass in the infantile period could be accelerating the biological process of puberty.
The early puberty It is characterized by early sexual development and increased growth speed. Increases the child's size for chronological age and creates an acceleration in the fusion of his bones.
In addition to having consequences on the health of obese girls, precocious puberty has important psychological effects as the woman's body does not match her chronological age. There is a disagreement between body maturity maturity and childlike age-like infantilism.
Researchers study how to curb the acceleration of precocious puberty in obese girls to prevent them from becoming women ahead of time, when psychologically they are not yet ready for it.
